DANNY WILLIAMS ‘COLD CALLING’

The Future Homes Standard is a posh name for the Building Regulations for new homes, anticipated to be introduced from 2025. Currently it is just a consultation document with absolutely nothing agreed or even defined in terms of U values, or anything as far as I can tell.

All of us that have referred to ‘Future Homes’ are guessing. And those of us that manufacture windows and doors for the home improvement sector are stretching the reference even further, because whilst whatever happens to refurb may well be influenced by Future Homes, it is by no means cast in stone. Any references to products performing to Future Homes standards are therefore a BIG stretch. However, in contrast to the non-event that most new uplifts to Document L of the Building Regulation seem to be, for some reason, the interest of every man, woman and their dog in the industry (and me) has been captured by the Future Homes Standard, not just two years or more ahead of its anticipated introduction, but with absolutely no idea what it will amount to. And that is entirely encouraging, not least because at last, we seem to be getting energy efficiency. And if it is simply that ‘Future Homes’ sounds sexier than ‘Document L’ then so be it…it’s working!

But why do we have to wait for a notional piece of paper, before we make our products as energy efficient as possible? I have long been an advocate for producing products to perform as well as they can be made to and put my money where my mouth is (OK, lots of money, I get it) when I developed my Signature window, that had the best U value of any casement on the market, as long as ten years ago (put paid to when Synseal hit the skids).

And now, in the installations that we carry out for the NHS, which call for the highest standards, we routinely manufacture and install windows with U values down to 0.8 W/m2K, every frame now triple glazed. And as you might expect, the windows that I am installing in my own home, are as good as we can realistically manufacture: triple glazed, with solar control and Planitherm in the sandwich in glass units that we manufacture ourselves.

This ‘Future Homes’ issue, however premature it may be, has also shaken the tree to reveal a whole bunch of triple glazing ‘anti vaxers’, otherwise intelligent people that believe triple is the devil incarnate and the end of the glazing world. It is a Luddite attitude that is largely without foundation, as I have proved in commercial terms during the past two years, since the NHS insisted upon it.

We didn’t bleat when the spec was delivered to us and there has not been an issue since and we have now installed the best part of a thousand triple glazed frames. Our fitters haven’t blinked, our vehicles are more than sturdy enough to carry what might be an additional 50 to 60 kilos for an average shipment. But the windows are of course, significantly better performing, in terms of insulation values but also of course, sound attenuation, crucial in health estates. Add in improved security too so I wonder why we don’t just install triple as a matter of course, right now.

Even though we have no concrete idea how Future Homes will shape the market in a couple of years’ time, we do know that the next round of improvements will require triple to fulfil the next level of thermal requirements. Let’s stop the bleating, acknowledge the true value of high performing glass in its various combinations, and recognise where the true value of our windows is achieved. And pay a decent price for IGUs too.

Why wait?